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Yemen to form new state oil company to replace Canadian Nexen

20 November 2011 01:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Yemen approved on Saturday to set up a new state-run oil company that will manage operations of the country’s southeastern oil block 14, currently run by Canadian company Nexen, APA reports.

Under the draft resolution which was approved by the country’s Supreme Economic Council, the new company is to prepare to seize the operations and production of oil block 14 in Masila in the Hadramout province after the production-sharing treaty between the Yemeni government and Canadian Nexen expires on Dec. 17, 2011, according to Saba.

The proposed company is named "PetroMasila".

Meanwhile, an official of the Yemeni Interior Ministry told Xinhua on Saturday that a group of anti-government armed tribesmen carried out a bomb attack Friday on an oil export pipeline in the northeastern province of Marib, where the operation of the pipeline has been halted since it was bombed weeks ago.

The cash-stripped government depends on oil exports for up to 70 percent of its budget.

The impoverished Arab country has been rattled by a 10-month- long unrest between the president’s supporters and protesters backed by defected army members calling for an end to the president’s 33-year rule. The violence has left thousands of people killed.